December 25, 2010

The walk today was absolutely stunning. Cold.. but stunning.
I figured with -10C/14F, sun and no wind there would be plenty of photo opportunities so I brought my camera along. Here is what I captured..

Someone forgot to take up their boat for the winter.

Winter wonderland in Särö this time of year.

Not many swimmers out there today

Mr Fisherman is still hoping for the ice to break early. He'll be ready for when it does..

Brave souls are testing the ice

I'm testing my gear for my climb up Mt. Everest next week.....

Prettier places you'll have to look for..

It's not hard finding good pictures when it's this nice out

For all you who don't speak Swedish out there, it says "Warning, white balls will get lost, use red"

December 23, 2010

There's really not much going on now to write about so I figured I'd tell you about how the Gustafson's celebrate Christmas.

I should start with that we celebrate on the 24th. Nothing really happens on the 25th except church (or so I've heard) and a hangover.

There is a few basic things that comes with Christmas in Sweden.

Ham would be one of them. I guess it's like turkey during Thanksgiving. If you don't have turkey for Thanksgiving there is something seriously wrong with you. The same goes with Swedes and ham at Christmas. In our house we bake the ham on the 23rd and have a "taste test" tonight before it goes on the table tomorrow. Put in on crisp break with a little mustard and Bob's your uncle.

Another thing that's basic on Christmas eve is Donald Duck at 3PM. I know.. it's stupid but it's the way it is, has always been and I hope it always will be. It's an hour show with cartoons, that never change, and it's the most watched program all year in Sweden. It's an unexplainable phenomenon, kinda like the northern lights... My dad cracks me up every year cause he HAS to watch it, and he makes us all watch it. He falls asleep in his chair, cause he has a couple of snaps for lunch, and we are stuck watching it. Same every year.. we complain but we like it.

And then of course Santa Clause. If you celebrate with any kids, you have Santa come to your house. It's normally a neighbor that has dressed up like Santa in your garage (with the help of your dad and couple of snaps). He then comes knocking on the door and the kids gets all excited, except for the small ones that gets scarred to death and start crying. He hands out the presents, gets his snaps and leaves. We then sit around and open presents until the room looks like bomb site and no more presents are to be found. After that, if you are lucky, the kids play with their presents and the grown ups can continue drinking.

That's pretty much how we celebrate Christmas.

This year we are lucky. My oldest brother Ulf signed off the boat yesterday so he'll be with us and my other brother Pär and his family will also be with us. It will be a full Gustafson Christmas!!